Sant’Agata li Battiati is a small
town located on a hilly slope north of Catania, bordered by the cities of
Gravina di Catania, Tremestieri Etneo, San Giovanni La Punta and Trappeto. Its history is closely related to
the neighboring Catania’s as far as it became an autonomous city. It was named
after Catania’s patron saint Virgin and Martyr following a devastating eruption
in 1444, whose river flow threatened to destroy all the south-western flank of
the Volcano. Two lava flows, emanated by Monte Arso and Montepeloso, as
is reported by Giuseppe Recupero (1720-1778); the first stopped by Bonaccorsi,
the second, after invading Tremestieri and S. Giovanni La Punta, threatened to enter Catania. Then, citizens and
authorities asked the Bishop Giovanni De Pescibus the permission to carry
Sant’Agata’s veil in procession; that miraculously halted the ravaging river at
the gates of the city. Right there, in the quarter then called “dei Valenti”, a
small church was soon erected. In 1635, the proprietor of that area,
Catanian judge Lorenzo D’Arcangelo, wanted to build a greater temple, as a sign
of devotion to the Saint. Around
the 1780s, an even larger temple, dedicated to the Annunciation and later
become the Mother Church, was built about 300 m to the south. The new town
would eventually grow around it.

Fortunately unharmed by the eruption of 1669
that entered Catania and flowed into the sea, Sant’Agata li Battiati was
instead hit by the earthquake in 1693, suffering heavy damages. In 1645, like
the other hamlets around Catania, it was bought by the Duke Giovanni Andrea
Massa.